Blowing Out Three Candles Posted by Amritha Mandagondi, Oct 08 2020 [A beautiful story Theresa shared in last night's virtual Awakin Santa Clara circle, on the passage by Anthony de Mello: Substituting One Cruelty For Another.] You know, with the passage. I think I was initially struck by the part about the window, and missing the beauty of the scenery the first time around, because you're in an off mood. And so the first thing for me was just being curious: what am I missing, because I'm so caught up in what's going on within me that I'm not able to actually learn or see beyond my own world? Then on the question about habits and things, I was actually thinking about my older son, who is three and a half. Anupam, my husband, and I had decided that we were not going to punish our kids. We read in some parenting books somewhere that that's just not effective. (But it's also a ... Read Full Story

Popat Savla: A Humble Love Affair With Life Posted by Nipun Mehta, Oct 05 2020 Both of us drove up together to a holy site, somewhere on the hills of Los Angeles. Except it was Sunday. And this shrine of the revered India mystic, Yogananda, is closed on Sundays. “If it’s closed, why are we going there?” I asked my friend. “Who knows, maybe it’ll open. Not all gates open by man-made rules.” Okay, I can dig that. We arrived, and sure enough, the giant gate was closed and there was absolutely no human in sight. “Well, we tried,” I stated. With his usual jokster smile, my friend replied with a Zen koan: “Surrender works only after full effort.” He got out of the car. I stayed back, since I wasn’t quite sure how the 50 feet walk between the car and the front gate would change anything. Lo and behold, right as he beelines for the shuttered gate, a nun comes out of nowhere, appearing to ... Read Full Story

Standing Up At Gandhi Ashram Posted by Rohit Rajgarhia, Oct 02 2020 [On Gandhi's birthday, it is an honor to re-share Paulette's extraordinary experience we heard at Gandhi 3.0 in January, of "standing up".] Good evening. Namaste. I would like to invite you to begin by closing your eyes and adjusting your position in your seat. [Pause] Take a d-e-e-p breath, breathing in and exhaling all the air. [Pause] Allow your shoulders to fall from around your ears so that you relax in your seat. Maybe your feet are making contact with the ground. [Pause] Notice your thoughts where they are and just breathe. [Pause] As you sit in your seat with your eyes closed and heart open, imagine Gandhiji appears before you dressed all in white. He bends down, reaches for your arm, holding your arm between your elbows and your wrist, and firmly speaks to you and says, “Stand Up.” You may be a little hesitant, a little startled, so you ... Read Full Story

Between A Monk, A Forest, And PG&E Workers Posted by Trupti Pandya, Sep 28 2020 [A touching story that Buddhist monk, Jin Wei, shared, as 46 of us began a "Sacred Space" Laddership Pod yesterday!] What's a time when you experienced the whole as greater than the sum of its parts? I am sitting here in the courtyard of Redwood Vihara, in a redwood forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. And what I want to share with you is something that happened yesterday in this very place and how we created a sacred space spontaneously where we felt, at that moment, some wholeness and deep connections with few strangers and with nature. Some of you might have heard about the wildfires in California that have been happening in recent weeks. It was a very, very difficult time here. And this land was very affected. Seventy thousand people had to be evacuated from this area and, more than a thousand structures and homes were burned to ashes. People will ... Read Full Story

Money, Power, And System Change In The World Posted by Carol Xu, Sep 21 2020 We psychologically attribute too much power to people with money and authority. We often expect or wait for the rich and high-status people to change the world. We grow upset or resentful, if they do not fulfill our expectations. We may think that we have to become rich or attain high status before we can bring about “real” change in society (whatever real means). When we do not have money or authority, we are often treated as a tool by those who do to reach their goals. When we don’t have money or authority, we often treat each other as a means to acquire money or authority. When we don’t have money or authority, we often reduce ourselves into a machine (or a cog in a larger machine) whose main purpose is to maximize wealth or social status in life. When the machine does not achieve its purpose, we beat ... Read Full Story

Kina And Her Cause Posted by Lena Kimura, Sep 19 2020 About a week ago, Amritha and I got the pleasure of interviewing a 14-year-old girl, Kina Desai, who's started an inspiring effort called 'Draws for a Cause'. The premise of 'Draws for a Cause' was to donate a pair of underwear to children in need in Central America for every pair purchased. Below is the transcript from our amazing interview with her! Lena: How did 'Draws for Cause' start, and what's the root of the inspiration for starting it? Kina: Last Summer, around August, I visited the Texas-Mexico border and volunteered in McAllen, Texas and Mexico and while there I volunteered in care centers with asylum seekers and the majority of them were from Central America. So as I was volunteering, the highlight of my time there was definitely volunteering with children at the care centers and I just spent a lot of time there with them and would kind of hear ... Read Full Story

6 Lessons From Our Summer Interns Posted by Audrey Lin, Aug 30 2020 Couple weeks back, fifteen of us completed a memorable summer internship. Across seven seemingly unstoppable weeks, 7 interns and 8 mentors came together to deepen in service. What transpired moved all of us, and we continue to be disarmed by the ripples that flow on. When summer internship applications came in this Spring, Vishesh noted: "It's hard to say who's going to be the intern and who’s going to be the mentor this summer." Indeed, the service-hearted intentions and experiences these young hearts articulated was so telling. As we dove into the summer, they showed up in full form every week. Rolling up their sleeves in concrete action, they served on existing ServiceSpace projects, as well as initiated their own service projects -- some of which are slated to continue throughout the year! Expanding their thinking, they'd read a new book every week related to values of service and kindness, and took ... Read Full Story

Teen Interview With Nitya Devisetti Posted by Lena Kimura, Aug 19 2020 Nitya Devisetti is a senior in high school in the Bay Area. In early May, she started the ‘Ma(s)king a Difference' non-profit organization to donate masks and cards to help those in need, and bring the community together. I had the pleasure of holding an interview with her to get to know a bit more about her, ‘Ma(s)king a Difference’, the struggles of being a teen in Silicon Valley, veganism, community, and much more. Below is a transcript of our conversation. Lena: I just wanted to know how you got ‘Ma(s)king a Difference’ started. I know there was a little bit of background on Karunavirus.org, but I want to know your thought process going into it, and what really motivated you. Nitya: Yeah. In the beginning, my mom was donating money to India and I was like “Why are you donating money to India? We live here.” and she was like “Yeah, but ... Read Full Story

Horses And Humans Together Create Big Ripples Posted by Kerri Lake, Aug 13 2020 Animals have a presence that opens the hearts of humanity. Absent of judgment, never requiring you to be different than you are, they offer connection and awareness for its own sake. As humans, we have the ability to recognize and share this connection with one another, reminding each other how it feels to be connected, with an open heart. Michelle Wagner-Yeatts knows that feeling well! Her “volunteer heart” was inspired and nourished by her mother who was always looking for more ways to help those around her. So, she is already tuned to notice situations where she might be able to step in and make a difference. Michelle’s professional background includes years and years of administration in nursing homes and other care facilities, and through that work, she developed a huge passion for seniors! When she saw a post float across her FB feed sharing the story of a man in who was ... Read Full Story

Service, Simplicity ... And Songwriting! Posted by Harpreet Bhan, Aug 12 2020 Being a joyful Heartfulness practitioner and a huge fan of ServiceSpace, i present an article on Nimo (who I had the privilege of meeting and singing with, earlier this year), in the latest Heartfulness Magazine, Nimo is featured along with other greats. Hope you enjoy it as much as i did, rather more:-) ...

Morgan Freeman Reading John Lewis's Last Article Posted by Anand Gopal, Aug 09 2020 The great Civil Rights leader John Lewis wrote an essay that he asked to be published on the day of his funeral. That act itself is amazing, knowing he was going to pass soon and being at ease with it... I was super inspired by this video, where Morgan Freeman reads his last essay ...

Where Does A Ripple Begin And Where Does It End? Posted by Rohit Rajgarhia, Aug 09 2020 A beautiful ripple, which continues to change form and expand, and touch hearts - One of the hands practice of our first Laddership Pod read -- “take a walk without a destination.” During our call, Shyam shared his experience of that act - "I've recently been thinking of embarking on a sacred, 2700 kilometer walking pilgrimage in India, that is done without any money. Seeing this prompt, I thought that perhaps I experimented today by walking for 22 kilometers. As I was departing, I thought to leave behind my phone and wallet, just like the pilgrimage. But then, with my health, I wasn't sure if I would just be able to survive 22 kilometers -- so I took two bananas along with me. Little more than half way through the walk, I ran into a young man on the streets of Delhi, who was literally crying. Saddened by it, I approached him to ... Read Full Story

Laddership Pods – The Alchemy Of Uncertainty Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jul 31 2020 The first Laddership Pod was conceived and implemented during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A 28-day process, it included 260 participants from 25 countries, dedicated to transformation. The time was ripe. So we gathered via technology to envision a new future. I’m sure many of us thought we’d find answers – solutions for personal and world problems. Instead, we wrestled daily with unanswerable questions. We stayed “in the grey” and pondered the nuances of transformation. “When do I surrender, vs. when do I apply tenacious grit?” “How do we navigate giving and burn-out?” “Where is the balance between inclusion and boundaries?” The result was magical. Our willingness to embark upon this journey of unknowing delivered us to a realm of shared emergence. Emergence looked like deepening friendships, radical acts of kindness, personal revelations, learning from each other, a brilliant on-the-fly tech platform that supported our global embrace, support for personal aspirations. The ... Read Full Story

A Summer Intern's Creative Art Project On Kindness Posted by Sophie Wu, Jul 19 2020 Many of us might remember our summer intern Frances from her beautiful story on friendship. One of Frances's internship projects this summer is to summarize the interns' weekly acts of kindness through creative art. This week, she integrated drawing and poem, in which she formed the poem using one phrase from everyone's reflection on the 21-day kindness challenge feed this week. We can't resist sharing this gorgeous work with you all. :) Enjoy! #rocking-star interns Here are the snippets of everyone's acts: Mika- I wrote a long letter Sonya- to one of my oldest friends Anha- I dropped the letter off Tanvi- and read it out loud Leela- I mailed it out Lena- It made me so happy Frances- To find a new way of spreading kindness

Othering And Belonging: Highlights From Awakin Call Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jul 16 2020 Last summer, the Awakin Calls team held an illuminating call with john a. powell on Othering and Belonging. Recently, in our Laddership Pod, we spent some time exploring this topic, and I was reminded of particular highlights from that conversation that stood out to me. Sharing an edited and condensed transcript of those highlights below, in case it is of value for others, too. Preeta: Let’s start with your vision of race in this country. From the lens of some, there's been a grand story of halting but real racial progress -- from ending slavery, to eliminating legal segregation, to seeking integration, to working towards tolerance and diversity, and maybe inclusion and equity. From your perspective, what are the realities or limits of our current narrative? John: If we go back to the founding years of the slave trade in the New World, 400 years ago, we see that race as we ... Read Full Story

Summer Interns. Wow. :) Posted by Nipun Mehta, Jul 14 2020 This summer, we have 7 remarkable summer interns, with 8 mentors(!), doing some exceptional things -- whose whispers might've already reached you. :) Just reading their applications is a heart-opening experience: Lena, Anha, Leela It underscored the kind of intentions that we attract and nurture. In week 1, as the field is barely emerging, internal ripples were already in motion. All of them attend our weekly Awakin Circle, genuinely meditate (most of them for the full hour!), and share the most beautiful things. Frances, shared this stunning story of her kindergarten friend. They also rolled up their sleeves and jumped into service. Lena, Leela and Anha orchestrated a first-ever "Teen Awakin Call" with Melissa. Sonya and Tanvi created themed storylists for KarunaVirus, on topics like Youth Taking Action and Behind the Protests. Mika drafted themed reading lists for Awakin Readings, on top of writing 20 story descriptions for KarunaVirus! Over the next weeks, they ... Read Full Story

Making Friends During A Pandemic Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jul 10 2020 Dear SSp Friends, This was from my friend Jen and I had to share it. Picture of her dog too, just for fun. :) I have to tell you a little story... With Spencer recently moving down here after being away for several years, and most of his friends having moved away, he has been looking to make new friends. Covid has made it a little tricky, but he managed to make a few friends while out rock climbing and they go out together to climb outdoors a few days a week. He asked me if I knew any other ways to meet people, while also staying safe. The only thing I could think to say was, "Be kind. Kind people attract other kind people." A few days later I saw him writing in the 21-Day Kindness book (from Service Space) that I stuck in his stocking ... Read Full Story

Sarah Schecter's Unwavering Positive Mindset Posted by Leela Kiyawat, Jul 07 2020 Hi everyone! My name is Leela Kiyawat, and I am one of the ServiceSpace 2020 Summer interns. It's such an honor to do service work in the company of all of you amazing people - I'm so grateful I've found this wonderful group. One of my projects this summer includes interviewing teenagers in my community about the various acts of kindness that they have either done or experienced this summer. I also wanted to hear, in a more general sense, their experience with grappling with the future in a world that has come to a pandemic-induced standstill. Generation Z is going to inherit a tumultuous world, and I want to show you all some of my incredible friends who are ready to attack any challenge that's been thrown at them. From online AP tests to lobbying for gun safety laws to the negative affects of performative activism, these interviews will cover ... Read Full Story

Freedom In Prison: A Story Of My Great-Grandfather Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Jul 07 2020 [I originally shared this true story of my great-grandfather at an Awakin Circle. By request I'm archiving it in writing with some additional context.] -- Freedom in Prison: a Story of my Great-Grandfather -- As I knock on the door of Grandpa Max’s apartment on Valentine Avenue in the Bronx in the fall of 1956, I’m feeling a little nervous. This is an important visit, and the first time I’ve come on my own from New Jersey, without my parents, by bus and subway, to see him. I’m flooded with memories of my early childhood in the 1940s. He lived in this same apartment back then, on the second floor, with Grandma Minnie before she passed away. My mom and dad and I and my little brother lived up on the fifth floor. When we went to visit them, we’d go to the elevator and press “2.” Then we’d get out, walk ... Read Full Story

First Teen Awakin Call Reflections Posted by Lena Kimura, Jul 02 2020 This past Tuesday (June 30th), Anha, Leela, and I held our first Teen Awakin Call as a project for the ServiceSpace Internship. It was the most enlightening experiences of my life. And after just a week of preparation, the three of us managed to pull together this amazing Teen Awakin Call with our amazing special guest, Melissa Stephens. I'm especially proud of our teamwork and how diligently everyone communicated with one another. I think the main reason why the call ran smoothly was because our chemistry as a team worked so well. I was definitely very nervous before the call and Anha and Leela kept reminding us that it will all work out perfectly and that we just needed to be present. They were so right. The idea behind a Teen Awakin Call was to create a space similar to the Awakin Calls where we can ask questions to a guest and ... Read Full Story